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Winnipeg Blue Bombers sign first-round CFL draft pick Nuer Gatkuoth - 3DownNation

That 2019 playoff defense was just scary good. As dominant a D as I think we've seen. Hamilton was a pretty damned good offense that season and the Bombers D made them soil themselves.

Look the reality is that the more time a qb spends with Paul lapolice the more they become only a game manager and get their ass kicked in the process.

He was a game manager when his arm was shot in his last few years with the club. Purely because he was unable to throw a 15+ yard pass. His first two years with us he was a gunslinger and was able to take chances. Truly unfortunate that his injuries derailed him.

I could see playing a guy who is "cold" and who has shown flashes of brilliance and trying to let the guy dig himself out of a rut. What annoys me is playing a guy who at best is a "C" level player and who is doing absolutely zilch on the field and refusing to give the next man up a legit chance to shine. O'Shea likes to give the next man up a "chance" on the last drive of the game when we are taking a knee or losing a game that is completely out of reach where the opposition is just dicking around.

I truly don't believe MOS is deciding who is on the field in which packages on O or D. I don't believe that is how the team is run from everything we've seen and heard from everyone involved right up through Walters and Wade Miller. I believe he wields strong influence on who is on the bottom 1/3 of the roster for special teams purposes, Canadians and DI's. But of the guys on the roster, I believe from basically everything we've seen that his coordinators are designing the packages including WHO is on the field. I think if you want to glean something from our deployment on D the past few years it's that Younger doesn't trust rookies. Even most of the guys we've brought in off the street into camp or due to injury and rostered had extensive experience in the CFL. Younger will only reluctantly put a rookie on the field.

They essentially broke Dane Evans.

Nichols was dealing in 2019...had he not got hurt I have xero doubt we don't win the Cup, especially with the defence we had. He was turned into a game Manager by Lapo and his penchant for everything flowing through Harris, but if you look back on things as soon as Nichols got his opportunity and saved Osh/Walter's bacon our offence almost immediately got a vertical game and pushed the ball well into the intermediate zone...which we rarely did up until then...What happened with Lapo and his super safe game plan was puxxling, but when he need to..Nichols could push the ball down field If he played in the Grey Cup all he needed to do was manage the game and we win, and he always showed up in playoffs. Strev threw the TD pass in the 2019 Cup...Harris and the oline controlled the l.o.s and the Defense had Hamilton offence backpeddling and in fear all game...ZC gets all the accolades but all he did was be a game manager

Shawn Lemon. We may have been able to win in 2019 with Nichols but who knows. That one sack completely turned the franchise around.

This is what concerns me about all the new bodies coming in. I think that if these have been forced onto O'Shea, he will go onto passive- aggressive mode and and put them out in situations where they will have little chance of showing well. Then he can smirk and go into "ahtodeso" routine.

I agree. Zach did an awesome job considering he was thrown straight into the fire with us, and deserves kudos for making up for his lack of time in our system with some clutch throws down the stretch, but Nichols was firing on all cylinders that year and had he not gotten injured, and our defence plays like it did in the playoffs we win the Grey Cup...no doubt in my mind. I feel for Nichols in that regard, and that is why I actually wanted us to cut bait on Collaros and bring back Nichols. (I had no idea is shoulder was mush). Was going to say that he wasn't the game manager people thought. We led the league in explosion plays both of his last two seasons with us. This notion that he was a game manager stems directly from him having Andrew Freaking Harris balling out and getting 25 touches a game. If that is "game management" or Lapo small ball sign me up for more. Maybe our biggest flaw last year was that we went away from feeding our stud running back the rock 20 times a game (altho in fairness BO was obviously not playing 100% healthy all season).

Sounds like the Broncos were not ready to sign him after their mini camp but he is still on their radar

It did turn the QBing around for sure. Look at Nichols record and stats in 2019 before going down, he was in MOP discussion at that point.

Not his last game - that was in 2018 after getting smoked by Ottawa. He tried spinning it by saying it was a heat of the moment thing and that he was over it 10 minutes later & also said it wasn't the first time and wouldn't be the last time he got booed, .but yeah he definitely cared. 2019 was the game manager thing, with the hats, so by that point he was definitely leaning more into it than the year before. He had the club winning while not looking spectacular - a winning record goes a long way to help lessen the impact of criticism!

Yeah, he got injured in 2019, hence bringing in Zach and re-signing him as opposed to Nichols.

His arm wasn't shot until he went to Ottawa. He could still make all the throws in 2019 when he last played for us.

When given the chance, he could definitely pitch... College numbers: 12,616 passing yards (6th in NCAA history) and 96 touchdowns over 47 games

Exactly my point. If players feel slighted because MOS is playing favourites you'd think there would be a stampede, when they become FA, to sign elsewhere. But that has not happened.

Nothing wrong with being a game manager at all. I wish ZC would lean into it at this stage of his career.

Jesus christ with the you have to earn it ****... what more could Smith have done last year to earn reps? By the end of the season guy was very noticeable every time he was on the field (pretty much only special teams). It's great to say osh will start a Canadian over an American but I don't believe that's universal. Osh loves veterans and guys who are established. He won't take reps away from them unless something forces his hand.

Matty Ice had a couple great showings in the playoffs. Like you said, just wasn't a team that was ready to win yet.

I can't speak for these other guys, but strippers do love me. If these guys can't buy a stripper's love then they need to rethink their banking strategy when going to the peelers.

AND in all honesty...he played well in playoffs and if not for a seive defence vs..was it BC??...He would have pulled off a playoff win...we lost but not from his play. I bet his playoff stats are much better than ZC's in his time here

Not necessarily formal recognition, heck maybe even just a chance to step on the field as an honored guest and get the ovation from the crowd he deserves. He never got a chance to say goodbye and we at the very least owe him that.